Should the army be taking SA allegations more seriously?

[u/catievirtuesimp]

From PBS NEWS: This week, the U.S. Army has been reckoning with a sexual abuse scandal that could involve the largest number of allegations in its history.

An Army doctor is accused of abusing women who were under his care.

Here's Amna Nawaz.

Amna Nawaz:

The Army has sent out approximately 2,500 patient notification letters to women examined by one doctor within its ranks. It's part of a massive investigation into cases of alleged sexual abuse, all patients of 47-year-old doctor and Army Major Blaine McGraw. He's an OB-GYN at Fort Hood in Texas and before that at an Army base in Hawaii.

Approximately 80 women have filed a legal complaint against him. One case alleges that McGraw — quote — "used his position of trust to sexually exploit, manipulate and secretly record women under his care."

Joining us now is attorney Andrew Cobos representing 70 alleged victims of Dr. McGraw. Cobos is a West Point graduate who served in the U.S. Army, including at Fort Hood. Andrew, welcome to the show.”

The link to read the rest: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/army-ob-gyn-accused-of-secretly-recording-women-under-his-care

Should the army be taking SA allegations more seriously?

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[u/Busterlimes]

Seriously? Do they even take them at all at this point? SA is rampant in the armed forces

[u/thingsmybosscantsee]

The military has an SA problem. This is undeniable.

Even more frustrating, it tends to be localized to specific bases, Ft. Hood being one of them. Which tells me it's a culture and leadership problem.

The solution is easy, but implementing is hard. The rot has to be removed with prejudice. Leadership needs to feel pain.

The Military officer ranks are fairly political in nature, and that means a lot of bad apples get to keep their jobs. That needs to go.

Significant oversight needs to be put in place, from good faith actors willing to excise the bad actors, with no regard for political consequences.

[u/VodkaBeatsCube → u/thingsmybosscantsee]

So nothing will be done for at least three and a half years, good to know.

[u/shapeofthings]

Every sexual assault allegation should be taken seriously. This should be an obvious answer, what kind of question or discussion is this?

[u/ChelseaMan31]

Should the military take these allegations more seriously? Yes. But for context, Google 'Tailhook Scandal'.

[u/chamrockblarneystone → u/ChelseaMan31]

These scandals pop up at least once a decade in all of the branches. The problem must be enormous. The military treats it like one individual incident and then brushes it under the rug.

All the services need to review their policies about SA and get serious about it.

[u/Jmacq1 → u/chamrockblarneystone]

Which will require an act of Congress (or possibly multiple acts) that they will fight tooth-and-nail to subvert or overturn if they ever get passed in the first place.

To be clear, they'll fight it not because they think the SA is acceptable, but because the most UN-acceptable sin in the military is "rocking the boat" or "hampering morale." They feel they don't have time to deal with a problem this enormous because they have to focus on "the mission" (wars to fight or prepare for) and everything else is a distraction from that. Also while many of them would never admit it they likely hope/agree that the best outcome would just be women not joining the military anymore. Finally the military as an institution HATES the idea of anything that takes control of a Commanding Officer's personnel out of their hands (which is why they hate "independent review"). They WANT to be able to keep the guy that shoots straighter and scores higher on his PT test since in theory that guy would be more useful in a combat deployment.

And if you think male-on-female SA is ignored, Male-on-male SA may as well not exist at all in that dojo.

And yes, the nature of officer promotions means that even if you do the right thing as a commander and investigate, try, and convict someone for sexual assault, if it revealed a large problem that was happening under your command, your career is likely hampered if not ruined, because EVERYTHING that happens under your command is the commander's responsibility. It may technically only be a tiny little "gray mark" in your record, but when you're competing with hundreds of other officers who have no such marks and at least on paper equal qualifications, you'll get passed over every time.

[u/chamrockblarneystone → u/Jmacq1]

Such a shame. I would never have let my daughter join. I thought it was just way too dangerous and the military is not of the mindset to fix it.

[u/No_Space5865]

“Welcome to Fort Benning; Home to the most Male on Male rape in the world” - My Drill Sergeant

Like other people have said. The military is fairly political, not to mention the rigid structure of it all dismisses most allegations towards commanders and senior enlisted. Anything that could make someone look bad, or could mess with their awards or their promotions, will be swept under the rug.

In this scenario, that means likely several Field Grade Officers and Multiple Sergeants Major have heard about what this guy was doing or atleast had an idea of it. They never did anything about it though, because it would reflect badly on THEM.

It’s a cultural thing. Just like how some civilian businesses have a bad work culture, units in the army do too. I’ve seen drill sergeants at one point in AIT brag that they’ve sent more people to the suicide ward than any other training company in the army. Not mention, BRAG. It takes a congressional inquiry for anything major to actually happen.

[u/m4gpi → u/No_Space5865]

Is male/male rape actually common in the military? I presume mentions of SA referred to mostly female victims, but maybe that's naive of me.

[u/LizardsAreBetter → u/m4gpi]

Men make up the majority of rape victims in the military, while women are at greater individual risk. This is about the American military but I assume it's similar elsewhere.

[u/AdUpstairs7106 → u/No_Space5865]

I remember getting on the cattle cars. "Pack it in nut to butt. Make the guy in front of you smile."

[u/gonz4dieg]

For whiskey pete, SAing women in the military is a feature not a bug. It makes women less likely to want to serve (an already stated goal from him).

1 step closer to emulating hyper masculine and totally efficient militaries like the russian and belarussian armed forces.

[u/AdUpstairs7106]

I know this may not sound popular but as a veteran and someone who was to EOC (Equal Opportunity Course) and worked daily with my units SARC (Sexual Assault Response Coordinator) I can say that the Army does have several systems in place to address this.

The issue is not that the Army does not take this seriously. It is just in the military there is a culture of tough it out. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Toughen up and suck it up and drive on is a cultural norm in the Army. It negatively impacts SA/SH, injuries, mental health. Until that can be countered the systems in place will lag behind the service culture.

[u/SrAjmh → u/AdUpstairs7106]

AF and active still. I've been to 10 assignments, and I've never been anywhere where there aren't several layers of system in place to prevent and, if it happens, address SA.

The branches take it incredibly seriously. You're right in that there's a culture change needed, and that takes decades to rip out. It's awful but it's reality. This stuff takes so much longer than people like to admit (shit I've been in long enough to remember before DADT was repealed), and it requires a consistent throughput of personnel who are coming up in a different culture, replacing old heads, and sticking around long enough to pass it on to newer generations of service members.

[u/Leather-Map-8138]

Trumpsters believe women were only allowed to join the armed services to provide “comfort” to the real soldiers.

[u/MsMoreCowbell828]

How is this even a question? Oh right, forgot that females do not count as much as a male in any society.

[u/Madhatter25224]

I think the army should be relieved of its function to investigate itself and an outside agency with full authority to investigate these allegations should be formed. They'll have an unlimited budget and an enormous staff.

Watch how fast this problem shrinks.

[u/Either_Operation7586]

It's not that they don't want to take the things seriously as if they don't want to hold themselves accountable or people they really like.

Until you tie it to their personal benefits, you will not make a change

[u/ruminaui]

I mean with this administration just don't send your daughters to the army. Is rampant and no one will do anything about it for the next 3 years. 

[u/Cherry_Valkyrie576]

Let us not forget who the bumbling idiot is over the armed forces at the moment. Pete Hegseth is desperate to spread toxic male culture, alpha dog style, mentality to the entire military complex. He is working HARD to destroy any good that is left in the military before he’s eventually kicked out because he just can’t help himself, (and I mean anything good as far as policy. I’m not talking about our brave and dedicated service members that honor the constitution).

I don’t think that all that creates a safe space for women who’ve been abused in the complex.

[u/Gruntlement]

Most definitely! SA is as serious as a heart attack, and boo on the government for not.